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Games

Bar Billiards - History and Useful Information

English Bar Billiards

The similarity of Bar Billiards with Bagatelle,
a game that was very popular for more than a century after 1770 is so
evident that it seems highly likely that Bar Billiards is a derivative
of Bagatelle via some lineage but that lineage is, at present, unknown.
For more information on this earlier game, please visit the separate page
on the history of Bagatelle.
Beyond that assumed and mysterious connection, it isn't known how Bar
Billiards originated but in the early 1930s an Englishman called David
Gill observed a game called Russian Billiards (Billiard Russe) being played
in Belgium. A Russian link is therefore a possibility but it seems
more likely that the game was named so as to sound slightly exotic to
the ears of West Europeans at the time (in the same way as for Chinese
Checkers and Polish Draughts).

Gill convinced the English manufacturer Jelkes (no longer trading) to
make a version of the game which he called Bar Billiards. Pubs seemed
keen to buy tables and other manufacturers soon got in on the act, notably
Sams Brothers (later Sams Atlas who were bought by Greys of Cambridge
who then went out of business). It is still possible to obtain reconditioned versions of these lovely old Bar
Billiards tables.

The first pub league was created
in Oxford in 1936 and shortly afterwards leagues sprang up in Reading,
Canterbury and High Wycombe. Before the war, there was apparently
an organisation called the National Bar Billiards Association. The now-defunct
Canterbury league team won the NBBA challenge cup beating a team from
Oxford just before the war. After the war a governing body was formed
called the All-England Bar Billiards Association appeared although the
relationship with the NBBA is not clear. The AEBBA now supervises the
game across 18 counties, mainly in the South of England. However, the
old cup was somehow retained in Canterbury and proceeded to be played
for as the 'Canterbury Team Challenge Cup for the next 50 years from 1947.
The game emerged in Jersey 1933 and their game was administered by the
Jersey Licence Victuallers League. This body has worked closely with the
AEBBA, despite variations in their respective games and the British open,
the largest competition in the Bar Billiards calendar continues to be
played in Jersey each year.

There are a number of variations in table sizes and rules. The Jersey
tables were apparently
based on those from the manufacturer Burroughs & Watts and are slightly
bigger (Riley bought out Burrows & Watts to form Riley-Burwat at a
later date). In Jersey, all shots must be played from the same spot whereas
in England, they can be played from anywhere within the small D at the
foot of the table.

The table shown to the right is a Thomas Padmore table (by kind permission
of Richard Hodson). Padmore was eventually bought by the Claire group
in Liverpool and subsumed into the Thurstons brand.

Skittles come shaped like mushrooms or as small thin posts with metal
crosspieces (both designed so that the skittles cannot fall into a cup).
The author is also aware that many tables feature 4 skittles instead of
3. Since both the Jersey and All-England Bar Billiards Association rules
stipulate that one black and 2 white skittles be used, it's not clear
where this variation came from nor which leagues play with it. Perhaps
it's only played in individual pubs and bars.

Whoever designed the game cleverly ensured it was more economical on
space in pubs and clubs than ordinary billiards
and pool tables because players strike from one
end of the table so there is no need to walk around the table at all.
The game itself is unusual since play is limited by time, a single coin
giving from between 10 and 20 minutes of play according to preference
(or the avarice of the landlord).

During the playing period, players attempt to accumulate points by striking
the balls, 7 of which are white and one of which is red, up the table
so that they fall down the holes at the other end. There are 9 holes
in all scoring from 10 to 200 points depending upon the difficulty and
potted balls run back to the front of the table in hidden channels so
that they can be used again. The game is deceptively difficult
due, in part, to the additional 3 skittles that are placed near the high
scoring holes. If either of the two white skittles are knocked over,
the break finishes and any points made during it are lost. Worse,
if the black skittle is toppled, the guilty player's entire score is reset
to zero, a drastic event, indeed.

Eventually, the time runs out and a bar drops inside the table preventing
any more balls returning to be replayed from the front of the table.
The remaining balls are then cleared one by one in the normal way until
only one remains. At this point, the final fiendish rule comes into
play - the only way to pot this last ball is into the 200 hole by first
bouncing off a side cushion. Since the 200 hole is situated directly
behind the fatal black skittle and since 200 points is often enough to
decide the outcome of the game, the finish is commonly fraught with tension....

Bar Billiards is still going strong especially in the South of England
and the Channel Islands but has unfortunately lost a lot of its popularity
due to the emergence of American 8 ball Pool.

French Bar Billiards

The
link with France and Belgium became more clear in the years following
the initial launch of this page by the author. Several people have since
written in with information about the French version of Bar Billiards.
The interesting thing here is that the table is almost identical and the
only significant difference is that it misses the hole behind the black
skittle.

Simon Ward wrote in about the table on the left which has a plaque which
says "Ameublement. Leonard Leclercq, Rue de Reims, Wattingeies, Templemars
(Nord)". He assumes, therefore, that it is made in France by this
chap.

To the right is a picture of another French table kindly contributed by
Mike Jakeaways. The owner of the table lives in the Poitiers area, and
says she remembers that tables were common in the cafes and coffee-bars
of her youth in the area (ie maybe 60s & 70s). They were replaced
with the arrival of electronic games. The sign on the table says
"Fabrique de Billards. Maba. Tulle, Corrèze".

Here's
a third table, kindly sent to the author by Chris Saville, with a very
unusual feature. The middle skittle is a teeototum - numbered 1 to 6.
We aren't sure how the teeototum is used.

Italian Bar Billiards

The 5 hole game pictured above is from Italy. It was sent in by another
kind contributor, Stecher Josef, who owns this table which features four
holes and two skittles. Apparently the table, has been in his family
since at least the 1930s so it seems to be a good possibility that the
game is older than the English game. Shown below are two pictures
of the Italian table by kind permission of Stecher Josef.

It may be no coincidence that Italy is the place where Pin
Billiards appears to have originated. Given the Italian penchant for
putting skittles on billiard tables, could it be that someone in Italy
decided on day to come up with a new game based on Bagatelle but using
skittles? And perhaps this game or another version of it was the pastime
discovered by David Gill in Belgium. It's a possiblity - there is a lot
more research to be done.

Swiss Bar Billiards

This
is a table owned by Pat Bartlett in Switzerland who kindly sent some pictures
of it after renovation. He found a date on the table - 21.2.1936 and it
apparently it was prduced by Paul Brunner who had originally a carpentry
workshop and was also known to import snooker tables to Switzerland several
which are in use today. He also produced pool/billard tables in his workshop.
So it seems likely that Brunner made this table originally - whether he
copied a design or came up with his own is unknown.

As you can see, the table has the 2 wide holes set nearest in the table
and there are 3 holes at the back compared with 5 on an English table.

Atlas
Bar Billiards Table

Stanko Milosavljevic of Belgrade, Serbia wrote in with about this table
which he got from his grandfather's bar. It has seven balls, one red and
six white ones, seven holes and one skittle (although possibly there were
more skittles which are lost). On the front is a plaque that simply says
"Atlas". Atlas was an English manufacturer who were eventually
bought by Sams Brothers. Presumably this is a design of table that they
made at one time. Stanko is interested to hear from anyone with any information
about his table.

Mystery Bar Billiards

Stuart
Rumsey sent this photo of another table from France, this time with the
configuration of holes around the edge. It is about 1.2m wide by 2.1m
long overall. It came with one mushroom, perhaps there were more. The
clock mechanism is German from Saarbrucken with 'Automatenfabrik' written
on it and its restorer estimated it was made during the world wars. It
takes a 1 franc coin.

Nothing like this has surfaced anywhere else yet. Stuart is looking for
more information - especially rules, number of skittles etc.

Rules

The rules for Bar Billiards vary by pub and location. However,
the most common set of Bar
Billiards rules based on those dictated by the All-England Bar Billiards
Association can be obtained for free from Masters Traditional Games.
A description of the game is also included.